After we had made the run from Tyre, we landed at Ptolemais, and exchanged greetings with the Brethren there, and spent a day with them.

It was then that Paul made the reply: "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart like this? For my part, I am ready not only to be bound, but even to suffer death at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus."

At the end of our visit, we made our preparations, and started on our way up to Jerusalem.

On this, Paul joined the men, and the next day shared their purification, and went into the Temple, and gave notice of the expiration of the period of purification when the usual offering should have been made on behalf of each of them.

The Commanding Officer gave his permission, and Paul, standing on the steps, made signs with his hand to the people, and, when comparative silence had been obtained, he spoke to them in Hebrew, as follows:

And to that the High Priest himself and all the Council can testify. For I had letters of introduction from them to our fellow Jews at Damascus, and I was on my way to that place, to bring those whom I might find there prisoners to Jerusalem for punishment.

While I was still on my way, just as I was getting close to Damascus, about mid-day, suddenly there flashed from the heavens a great light all round me.

The Commanding Officer ordered Paul to be taken into the Fort, and directed that he should be examined under the lash, that he might find out the reason for their outcry against him.

But do not let them persuade you, for more than forty of them are lying in wait for him, who have taken an oath that they will not eat or drink, till they have made away with him; and they are at this very moment in readiness, counting upon your promise."

And to have horses ready for Paul to ride, so that they might take him safely to Felix, the Governor.

Wishing to ascertain exactly the ground of the charges they made against him, I brought him before their Council,

On a sign from the Governor, Paul made this reply: "Knowing, as I do, for how many years you have acted as Judge to this nation, it is with confidence that I undertake my own defense.

There were, however, some Jews from Roman Asia who ought to have been here before you, and to have made any charge that they may have against me--

On Paul's appearance, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him, and made many serious charges, which they failed to establish.

My answer to them was, that it was not the practice of Romans to give up any man to his accusers till the accused had met them face to face, and had also had an opportunity of answering the charges brought against him.

So they met here, and without loss of time I took my seat on the Bench the very next day, and ordered the man to be brought before me.

For it seems to me absurd to send a prisoner, without at the same time stating the charges made against him."

That at mid-day, your Majesty, I saw right in my path, coming from the heavens, a light brighter than the glare of the sun, which shone all round me and those traveling with me.

This is why the Jews seized me in the Temple, and made attempts upon my life.

While Paul was making this defense, Festus called out loudly: "You are mad, Paul; your great learning is driving you mad."

"I am not mad, your Excellency," he replied; "on the contrary, the statements that I am making are true and sober.

"Whether it is soon or late," answered Paul, "I would to God that not only you, but all who are listening to me, might to-day become just what I am myself--except for these chains!"

And, speaking to Festus, Agrippa added: "The man might have been discharged, if he had not appealed to the Emperor."

Then they cast off, and abandoned the anchors, and at the same time unlashed the gear of the steering oars, hoisted the foresail to the wind, and made for the beach.

The Brethren there had heard about us, and came out as far as the Market of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At sight of them Paul thanked God and was much cheered.

Three days after our arrival, Paul invited the leading Jews to meet him; and, when they came, he spoke to them as follows: "Brothers, although I had done nothing hostile to the interests of our nation or to our ancestral customs, yet I was sent from Jerusalem as a prisoner, and handed over to the Romans.

So, as they disagreed among themselves, they began to disperse, Paul adding only--"True, indeed, was the declaration made by the Holy Spirit, through the Prophet Isaiah to your ancestors--

I want you to know, Brothers, that I have many times intended coming to see you-but until now I have been prevented-that I might find among you some fruit of my labors, as I have already among the other nations.

This is so, because what can be known about God is plain to them; for God himself has made it plain.

As a proof, I repeat, at the present time, of his own righteousness, that he might be righteous in our eyes, and might pronounce righteous the man who takes his stand on faith in Jesus.

Not after, but before. And it was as a sign of this that he received the rite of circumcision-to attest the righteousness due to the faith of an uncircumcised man-in order that he might be the father of all who have faith in God even when uncircumcised, that they also may be regarded by God as righteous;

That is why all is made to depend upon faith, that all may be God's gift, and in order that the fulfillment of the promise may be made certain for all Abraham's descendants-not only for those who take their stand on the Law, but also for those who take their stand on the faith of Abraham. (He is the Father of us all;

As Scripture says-'I have made thee the Father of many nations.') And this they do in the sight of that God in whom Abraham had faith, and who gives life to the dead, and speaks of what does not yet exist as if it did.

With no ground for hope, Abraham, sustained by hope, put faith in God; in order that, in fulfillment of the words-'So many shall thy descendants be,' he might become 'the Father of many nations.'

For Jesus 'was given up to death to atone for our offences,' and was raised to life that we might be pronounced righteous.

Even for an upright man scarcely any one will die. For a really good man perhaps some one might even dare to die.

Law was introduced in order that offences might be multiplied. But, where sins were multiplied, the loving-kindness of God was lavished the more,

In order than, just as Sin had reigned in the realm of Death, so, too, might Loving-kindness reign through righteousness, and result in Immortal Life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

We recognize the truth that our old self was crucified with Christ, in order that the body, the stronghold of Sin, might be rendered powerless, so that we should no longer be slaves to Sin.

And so with you, my Brothers; as far as the Law was concerned, you underwent death in the crucified body of the Christ, so that you might be united to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that our lives might bear fruit for God.

Did, then, a thing, which in itself was good, involve Death in my case? Heaven forbid! It was sin that involved Death; so that, by its use of what I regarded as good to bring about my Death, its true nature might appear; and in this way the Commandment showed how intensely sinful sin is.

So that the requirements of the Law might be satisfied in us who live now in obedience, not to our earthly nature, but to the Spirit.

For Nature was made subject to imperfection-not by its own choice, but owing to him who made it so--

For those whom God chose from the first he also destined from the first to be transformed into likeness to his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest among many Brothers.

For in order that the purpose of God, working through selection, might not fail-a selection depending, not on obedience, but on his Call-Rebecca was told, before her children were born and before they had done anything either right or wrong,

I might rather ask 'Who are you who are arguing with God?' Does a thing which a man has molded say to him who has molded it 'Why did you make me like this?'

It is as Isaiah foretold-'Had not the Lord of Hosts spared some few of our race to us, we should have become like Sodom and been made to resemble Gomorrah.'

For no distinction is made between the Jew and the Greek, for all have the same Lord, and he is bountiful to all who invoke him.

And Isaiah says boldly--'I was found by those who were not seeking me; I made myself known to those who were not inquiring of me.

But branches, you will say, were broken off, so that I might be grafted in.

The man who eats meat must not despise the man who abstains from it; nor must the man who abstains from eating meat pass judgment on the one who eats it, for God himself has received him.

He who observes a day, observes it to the Master's honor. He, again, who eats meat eats it to the Master's honor, for he gives thanks to God; while he who abstains from it abstains from it to the Master's honor, and also gives thanks to God.

The very purpose for which Christ died and came back to life was this--that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.

The right course is to abstain from meat or wine or, indeed, anything that is a stumbling-block to your Brother.

Whatever was written in the Scriptures in days gone by was written for our instruction, so that, through patient endurance, and through the encouragement drawn from the Scriptures, we might hold fast to our hope.

For I tell you that Christ, in vindication of God's truthfulness, has become a minister of the Covenant of Circumcision, so that he may fulfil the promises made to our ancestors,

And, in obedience to the command of the Immortal God, made known through the writings of the Prophets to all nations, to secure submission to the Faith--

Are you all so soon satisfied? Are you so soon rich? Have you begun to reign without us? Would indeed that you had, so that we also might reign with you!

For, as it seems to me, God has exhibited us, the Apostles, last of all, as men doomed to death. We are made a spectacle to the universe, both to angels and to men!

We work hard, toiling with our own hands. We meet abuse with blessings, we meet persecution with endurance,

We meet slander with gentle appeals. We have been treated as the scum of the earth, the vilest of the vile, to this very hour.

With regard to unmarried women, I have no command from the Master to give you, but I tell you my opinion, and it is that of a man whom the Master in his mercy has made worthy to be trusted.

On the other hand, a father, who has definitely made up his mind, and is under no compulsion, but is free to carry out his own wishes, and who has come to the decision, in his own mind, to keep his unmarried daughter at home will be doing right.

Therefore, if what I eat makes my Brother fall, rather than make my Brother fall, I will never eat meat again.

Although I was entirely free, yet, to win as many converts as possible, I made myself everyone's slave.

What do I mean? you ask. Than an offering made to an idol, or the idol itself, is anything?

When you meet together, as I understand, it is not possible to eat the Lord's Supper;

And in the same way with the cup, after supper, saying "This cup is the new Covenant made by my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in memory of me."

Therefore, my Brothers, when you meet together to eat the Supper, wait for one another.

If, however, they all made up only one part, where would the body be?

Even though I have the gift of preaching, and fathom all hidden truths and all the depths of knowledge; even though I have such faith as might move mountains, yet have not Love, I am nothing!

So, when the whole Church meets, if all present use the gift of 'tongues,' and some men who are without the gift, or who are unbelievers, come in, will not they say that you are mad?

What do I suggest, then, Brothers? Whenever you meet for worship, each of you comes, either with a hymn, or a lesson, or a revelation, or the gift of 'tongues,' or the interpretation of them; let everything be directed to the building up of faith.

But, if some revelation is made to another person as he sits there, the first speaker should stop.

For, as through union with Adam all men die, so through union with the Christ will all be made to live.

On the first day of every week each of you should put by what he can afford, so that no collections need be made after I have come.

I am glad Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus have come, for they have made up for your absence;

If we meet with trouble, it is for the sake of your consolation and salvation; and, if we find consolation, it is for the sake of the consolation that you will experience when you are called to endure the very sufferings that we ourselves are enduring;

Indeed, we had the presentiment that we must die, so that we might rely, not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.

With this conviction in my mind, I planned to come to see you first, so that your pleasure might be doubled--

So I wrote as I did, for fear that, if I had come, I should have been pained by those who ought to have made me glad; for I felt sure that it was true of you all that my joy was in every case yours also.

I had this further object, also, in what I wrote--to ascertain whether you might be relied upon to be obedient in everything.

Our fitness comes from God, who himself made us fit to be ministers of a New Covenant, of which the substance is, not a written Law, but a Spirit. For the written Law means Death, but the Spirit gives Life.

For we know that if our tent--that earthly body which is now our home--is taken down, we have a house of God's building, a home not made by hands, imperishable, in Heaven.

Him who never knew sin God made to be Sin, on our behalf; so that we, through union with him, might become the Righteousness of God.

In addition to the encouragement that this gave us, we were made far happier still by the happiness of Titus for his heart has been cheered by you all.

For you do not forget the loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ--how that for your sakes, although he was rich, he became poor, so that you also might become rich through his poverty.

We are also sending with them another of our Brothers, whose earnestness we have many a time proved in many ways, and whom we now find made even more earnest by his great confidence in you.

I am jealous over you with the jealousy of God. For I betrothed you to one husband, that I might present you to the Christ a pure bride.

Though I am no trained orator, yet I am not without knowledge; indeed we made this perfectly clear to you in every way.

Perhaps you say that I did wrong in humbling myself that you might be exalted--I mean because I told you God's Good News without payment.

I robbed other churches by taking pay from them, so that I might serve you!

When I speak thus, I am not speaking as the Master would, but as a fool might, in boasting so confidently.

About this I three times entreated the Lord, praying that it might leave me.

Remember, this is the third time that I have made every preparation to come to see you, and I shall refuse to be a burden to you; I want, not your money, but you. It is not the duty of children to put by for their parents, but of parents to put by for their children.

I, at least, did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through a revelation made by Jesus Christ.

You heard, no doubt, of my conduct when I was devoted to Judaism--how I persecuted the Church of God to an extent beyond belief, and made havoc of it,

Saw fit to reveal his Son in me, so that I might tell the Good News of him among the Gentiles, then at once, instead of consulting any human being,

All that they had heard was--'The man who once persecuted us is now telling the Good News of the very Faith of which he once made havoc.'

It was in obedience to a revelation that I went; and I laid before the Apostles the Good News that I am proclaiming among the Gentiles. I did this privately before those who are thought highly of, for fear that I might possibly be taking, or might have already taken, a course which would prove useless.